We in Longmont have an example: Resort to eminent domain to rebuild a shopping center that isn’t needed. In Boulder’s case, the most telling features of the tale appear to be (1) a salivating developer waiting in the wings, overdue Mercedes loan payment coupon in hand, and (2) the materials constituting a dismantled structure originating in central Asia, sitting in a wastewater treatment building.

Both provide impetus, for good or less.

Gregory Iwan/Longmont

Don’t dismiss pot sickness

[Re: “Too much medical marijuana can make you sick,” Weed Between the Lines, Aug. 8.] I took interest in this article because I briefly dated a man who claimed to have these exact symptoms a few years back. He was completely incapacitated with hyperemesis, nausea and severe abdominal pain for a period of 12-24 hours. He claimed this reoccurred every few months, the only solution being long, hot baths.

In order to make some sense of this, I started researching his symptoms, Googling “extreme cyclical hyperemesis,” having been familiar with the term hyperemesis gravidarum as an extreme condition in pregnancy. Somehow, a link came up about “cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome” from Wikipedia, which was not as commonly known then. When I read about these exact symptoms and cure, I thought I may have solved his dilemma.

A bit of background: This mid-40s man is a chronic marijuana user. He was also a combat Marine during the mid-80s who has certainly been exposed to many potential carcinogens. I thought perhaps this was the cause until I found this blurb about CHS. This man has been in the “cannabis industry” for some time, exposing him continually and on a grander scale than even regular, heavy marijuana smokers, as well as having grown up in a family-run flower nursery business — also no shortage of chemical exposure. I truly wonder how many of these 93 cases also consist of men who cultivate marijuana, especially in large, legal grow operations. Body systems which may already be overburdened from previous toxicity, as well as chronic ingestion of stimulants: coffee, cigarettes and alcohol, in conjunction with chronic cannabis usage could become cumulatively overwhelmed, especially when exposed to the array of chemicals involved in cultivation. Keep in mind that only more recently have milder or organic pesticides and the like been available. As an herbalist I suggested he look at assisting detoxification of his liver, though the suggestion that there was some connection with cannabis was met with extreme skepticism. I do not know that he resolved his issues, but think there may be more to this than a effects on users. While most who ingest marijuana, [especially those who do so smear campaign by NIDA.

As with any herb, differences in personal constitution, potency and amount of marijuana will have different consistently] find that it decreases nausea, there is always the possibility that it has adverse reactions in some. I would submit that chronic ingestion combined with consistent exposures may cause symptoms that diverge from the norm, and despite being atypical do not deserve to be written off as merely disdain and prejudice by the conservative political agenda. I do not negate the backlash that is being percolated it. and am deeply disappointed that positive research is being quashed in favor of anomalies. However, I think more research is necessary, and if my theory is on track, believe we may see more of this as large-scale legal operations are established.

S.B./Boulder County

Editor’s note: Writer’s name withheld to protect anonymity of the marijuana user

Join pot lawsuit [Re: “Is Colorado’s MMJ patient registry being shared with law
enforcement?” Weed Between the Lines, Aug. 22.] Please spread far and
wide and donate what you can for a class action patient lawsuit over
this intentional Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
(CDPHE) breach — everything helps. All Colorado patients from 2001 to
2013 (over 200,000 patients) have had their privacy breached.

We have to pull the plug on the online connection to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and everyone from the CDPHE.

Editor’s note: The following is a letter to movie reviewer Ryan Syrek.

Dear Ryan,

I just wanted to say thank you for your article [“Crisis of context,” Screen, Aug. 15]. It sung a sweet and sour melody to my ears, and my eyes watered through the lines. Just the mere thought that you understood, that you cared enough to have empathy for your fellow man or race speaks volumes in a deaf society. We are humans and have feelings too, regardless of what others opinion or ignorance may think!

Just look at the whole picture that race isn’t an option in this world but to be abused for someone’s dislike of what you look like is disgusting. Does not my life have any worth?

Thank you and thank you,

Donielle Marshall/Alexandria, Va.

Gun control needed

Being a person with a severe mental illness, I am an ardent civil libertarian and keenly aware of the stigmas associated with mental illness. Despite knowing that for the most part the mentally ill are no more dangerous than the rest of the general population, my common sense tells me that guns should be taken out of the hands of those who have been court-ordered to be treated for their illnesses at some point in their life. I have in the past been court-ordered for treatment in a hospital and to maintain that treatment for a period of time after being released.

One could determine that our culture is mentally ill.

I have often wondered that if I applied for a gun of my choice would I get it after a background check. My guess is I could walk out of a gun shop with a semiautomatic. We need to strengthen and work out the kinks of laws already on the books.

As well, it is common sense to think there is a need for such things as a renewal of the assault weapons ban, limits on magazine sizes and expanded background checks.

Private gun sales should require background checks and tough new legislation intended to close a federal loophole that prevents law enforcement from tracking who is buying guns on the street.

There are other common-sense steps we could take in regard to gun control that I would also support, and the proposed reforms I have listed will not solve every problem. It will not end every gun death. But it will substantially reduce it. And it matters.

That’s why I am willing to give up my rights to gun ownership of any kind.

Seth Brigham/Milwaukee, Wisc.

Bag ban

So now the NFL has adopted the airline industries policy of carry-on bag fees to boost profits.

This is the same owner [Pat Bowlen] who asked for a metro tax to pay for a new stadium to be able to compete.

I will not be attending any more live games and watch the games on TV. Shame on you, and hopefully all other NFL owners who came up with this new method to maximize profits.

Mr. Bowlen (or new owner), don’t even try to ask for more tax money to build a new stadium when this one is deemed out of “date”! Go ahead and move to another state where they will be more than happy to throw money away at taxpayers’ expense.

— A fed up NFL fan, no longer a live paying fan!

D. Dalsbo/Longmont

Editor’s note: The NFL has banned, but is not charging for, certain bags.

Darwin was racist

“Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth. … Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to it’s kind. … Let us make man …’” Genesis 1, the Bible.

There has been no proof found of evolution or any link between types of animals at all in the fossil record. The evidence confirms that all plants and animals of each phylum came into existence at once and at the same time. It is called by scientists and archeologists the Cambrian Explosion. The only place evolution exists is in our schools, taught as fact excluding rebuttal, and in the minds of tyrants who killed millions in the name of racial superiority citing evolution as their justification.

“The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the ‘Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life’ by Charles Darwin, M.A.” The complete name on the title page of the book.

It is known fact that Darwin’s bias in writing the book was to justify some races inferior to others and some (notably his) superior. Justifying racism was and is still the goal. Since its purpose is political, not scientific, the science disproving it is ignored — and suppressed, and millions die in its name.

David Cook/Loveland

MLK and animal rights

This week’s 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s March on Washington is being observed with marches, speeches and speculation on what causes Dr. King would embrace today. He would certainly continue to work for racial equality. But he would also likely advocate for a rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan, workers’ rights, gay rights and animal rights.

Yes, animal rights. Although he is best known for advocacy of racial equality, Dr. King opposed all violence, like the Vietnam War. And there is no greater violence than that perpetrated each day against billions of cows, pigs and other sentient animals in America’s factory farms and slaughterhouses. The day before his assassination in 1968, Dr. King came to Memphis to champion the most oppressed human beings in America — African-American sanitation workers. Today, it would also be about the most oppressed living beings in America — animals raised for food, experiments and entertainment. Although Dr. King never lived long enough to extend his circle of compassion, justice and nonviolence to nonhuman animals, his wife Coretta Scott King and his son Dexter Scott King did, by embracing the vegan lifestyle. A great way for us to honor the King legacy is to follow their lead.